Please help my terrible, awful digestion

[dogsandcoffee]

It’s got worse and worse and worse. I’m forever constipated. Usual poop situation is a couple of malteser type things. Often bloated. Forever burping. Often getting acid reflux and abdo gas pain that means it hurts to touch my abdomen from the boobs down. Last three days have been awful. Very painful stomach from late afternoon onwards. Feel awful.

I’m on GERD meds already. I eat prunes to try and get my bowels moving. I’ve upped my fruit and veg already.

Help!!!

Keto is the only thing which consistently helps. It's a pain in the arse. Just had a week 'off' keto and I'm bloated, sore and have acid again.

Have you tried taking a decent, high quality pro/pre-biotic? The only ones recommended by doctors in the UK are Symprove and VSL#3.

I prefer Symprove's formula but have a look at them both.

Do you have a smoothie maker or blender? If so put in a glassful of water, an apple ( cored, not peeled) a pear (ditto) two large handfuls of kale. Blitz. Drink 3 glasses of this a day. Cures constipation.
( buy a bag of kale , put in freezer and then crush it when frozen. Add frozen to the smoothie)

Ditch the carbs. I’ve found bread, pasta any biscuits or cake give me horrendous acid reflux.
Drink more water. Then more water.

Please stop posting here and see your GP

@Xpologog is right. It's the carbs. Cut out bread of any form, biscuits, cakes and you'll be right as rain

Fast fibre has sorted this out for me. I was experiencing all your symptoms and consistently constipated. It was ruining my day to day life.

It tastes disgusting and isn’t cheap. But is worth it

I swear by a teaspoon of psyllium husk in a glass of water - it's a natural, insoluble fibre which is great at keeping things moving through your gut.

And agree that starchy carbs do NOT do me any favours.

Have you tried a food diary to see if you can spot any repeat offenders? I've recently realised that leeks set me off and have my suspicions about pineapple.

Make an appointment with your doctor. Why wouldn't you?

@A580Hojas

Make an appointment with your doctor. Why wouldn't you?

If the OP is on GERD medication, then presumably she already has done so - the problem for those of us with chronic digestive issues is that, at some point, GPs will shrug their shoulders.

I presume that's the point the OP is at and is looking for a bit of management / handholding.

OP, I take probiotics and find the occasional course of omeprazole - 14 days two or three times a year - helps. Always have peppermint teabags in the house.

I'm not as badly affected as you but I've found cutting carbs, bread in particular, and adding kefir to be of help. Still feel sick most days and often have cramps but these help as well as lots of water, hot and cold plus peppermint tea.

I find exercise helps me. A brisk walk is usually enough to get things moving

Yes the dr is aware of what’s what.

I have to say I would be going back to my gp if already on meds and no improvement. Gerd meds don't do anything for constipation. Its difficult to say with no other information available. If overweight look at diet. Are you wearing restrictive clothes around your waist. Do you.lie down soon after eating. You may have an hiatus hernia which may be complicating things. Alternatively you may have some inflammatory gut issues eg helicobacter which may need treated. High fat diet doesn't help with reflux either. You could have gallbladder, bowel, or ovarian issues. Go see your GP and don't let them fob you off. The NHS is under pressure like never before and there is probably push back from hospital services to ask gps to be more 'discerning' about referrals for investigations but this is not a good thing at all. We have had 2 years of this and we haven't really even started to play catch up yet. GO SEE YOUR GP.

Has the GP run tests for coeliac disease?

Just coming on to say get tested for Coeliac Disease.

Try kiwis - used when children have bad constipation in Australia and have worked wonders for my child. Try one a day for a few days. To up fiber even more we used to have chia seeds (very high in fiber) on yoghurt with kiwi.

I am a bit of a digestion bore as I’ve had a lot of issues, which are now under control.

I know it’s counter intuitive but GERD medications like omeprazole can actually end up contributing to the problem - they aren’t really meant for long term use unless in certain circumstances. They can also cause malabsorption issues.

Firstly I would add in a glass of kefir every morning. A couple of teaspoons of Manuka honey a day is good. Also try a good probiotic. Drink green tea twice a day and cut out coffee.

DGL licorice is helpful before meals.
Mastic gum capsules before bed can also be helpful.

I would advise you to get tested for H Pylori which can often be a cause of gastritis and reflux. I had this and treated it naturally - didn’t take the antibiotics. Got rid of it in 3 months with a number of different supplements on top of the ones mentioned.

I had all of the above. Caused by gluten intolerance. Cut it out completely and all resolved within a week.

Do you drink enough water? If you have been constipated like this for a long time then your bowel will have become stretched which makes it worse. You need to be on a stool softener. Then you need to figure out if this is just a diet issue and due to the complications of being constipated for so long or if there is a different underlaying cause.

Controversial (maybe) take but try limiting or lowering your fibre intake. I can tolerate white bread but not brown, cornflakes but not weetabix etc. Try to get soluble sources or just lots of fruit + veg. My digestion verges on "normal" when I do this but I'm in severe pain otherwise (have mild ulcerative colitis).

I have a bowl of natural yoghurt with probiotic powder stirred through and some Manuka honey. My digestive issues were so bad that it was painful to walk and having that daily saved me. Now I only need to have it a couple of times a week.

Probably you've done it but water and more water.

It sounds as though, from your description, you're too, err, dried out inside.

You need to soften it up to enable it to move.

And that needs moisture.

This is all very helpful, thank you. I’m pretty sure I was tested for coeliac and it was negative but I rarely have gluten anyway as I know it’s a trigger.

I had scans of my ovary area because of bloating but that was all clear thankfully.

I’m going to have to call the GP tomorrow. Could this all be stress related?!

Have you been tested for helicobacter pylori? It is a bacferia that can cause stomach ulcers. Can be easily treated with a 7 day course of 2 antibiotics and omeprazole (acid reducer).

I'd say it's an allergy, sounds like classic non-ige allergy symptoms. Most likely culprits are dairy, soya, egg and wheat.